knit & crochet

CROCHET TIPS

Here are a few tips in response to questions that have come up after our classes:

– When counting chains or stitches, do not count loop on hook.

– Keep an even tension on the yarn as you wrap it around the hook and make new stitches. Always wrap the yarn over the hook from back to front.

– Always form your stitches on the thicker part of the hook (“shank”), not on the narrower “throat”.

– If you are right handed, at the end of a row, always turn your work toward you from right to left, like turning the page of a book. (If you are left handed, turn your work toward you from left to right, like turning back a page.)

– Pay particular attention to working your stitches properly at the beginning and end of each row (“turning chain”) to avoid missing or adding a stitch.

– Joining a new ball of yarn:It’s best to start a new ball at the edge (or 2-3 stitches from the edge) if you can. Work your last stitch until there are 2 loops left on the hook (or 3 loops if half-double crochet), yarn over with the new yarn and pull through all loops on the hook. Hold the tails from the old and new yarn together and out of the way as you work a few stitches (to help maintain proper tension), then drop tails and continue working with new yarn. Leave a tail at least 6” on both old and new yarns to weave in later.